Bright lights of the Big Apple: How modern lights have transformed New York City's iconic skyline

Just a decade ago, the picture-perfect postcard of Manhattan was a twinkling panoramic view punctuated by the iconic Empire State Building which towered far above neighbouring rooftops.

The closest relative to the skyline's defining skyscraper was the Chrysler Building on the East Side.

But looking at the same skyline today from across the Hudson River, the city's nightscape seems to have come alive with dazzling and glitzy bright lights.

In 2001:The picture-perfect postcard of Manhattan has a twinkling panoramic view punctuated by the iconic Empire State Building which towered far above rooftops

In 2011: The same skyline today from across the Hudson River, seems to have come alive with dazzling and glitzy bright lights heaving with shimmering skyscrapers

Five ultra modern skyscrapers have made their mark on the new, luminescent skyline, some with their brightly lit antennas rising up to the once overshadowing symbolic Empire State Building.

'It’s flashing and glitzy — more like the Ginza strip in Tokyo. The buildings are much brighter, significantly different,' David Childs, designer of the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle and the Freedom Tower at Ground Zero told the New York Post.

NEW YORK'S FIVE NEWER DAZZLING SKYSCRAPERS

1. The 2009 51-storey, glass-skinned Bank of America building

2. The 1995 48-storey reflective glass and steel Condé Nast building

3. The 2007 iron-glass 52-storey New York Times Building

4 and 5.The two 2009 residential Silver Towers

'It’s the new development from around Times Square. It’s not only the reflected light from the ground.

RELATED ARTICLES

Share this article

It’s the colorful bright lights from the super-tall buildings, and some of those have antennas that are lighted.

'They look very much like upside-down lollipops. They stick out over the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building.'

The five skyscrapers that have helped illuminate the Big Apple in recent years include: the 51-storey, glass-skinned Bank of America building in Bryant Park with its white façade lighting; the 48-storey reflective glass and steel Condé Nast building at Times Square; the 52-storey New York Times Building on Eighth Avenue, whose iron-glass construction reflects light and changes color throughout the day; and the two residential Silver Towers on 42nd Street near the Hudson River.

The Bank of America Building and the Condé Nast building both have striking spires which resemble coloured laser beams shooting up into the sky.

Developer Douglas Durst has illuminated the tops of both buildings with a $3.5 million, energy-efficient light extravaganza.

'It’s not just the spires and the lights at the top of the building. If you look up, there is a lot more glass and it’s more reflecting,' Childs told the Post.